Universities welcome passage of copyright bill
Ottawa – Canada’s universities applaud the passage of Bill C-11, the Copyright Modernization Act, in the House of Commons last night and urge speedy passage of this long-awaited legislation in the Senate.
“This bill will update Canada’s copyright legislation and help to balance the needs of researchers, students and professors with those of creators,” says Paul Davidson, president of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. “Universities, as both users and creators of copyrighted works, have worked hard for more than a decade to push for a new copyright act and see Bill C-11 as a very fair approach to competing interests.”
Bill C-11 contains many of the changes the university community suggested during the federal government’s public consultation during the summer of 2009, including exceptions permitting the educational use of Internet materials and the recording and Internet transmission of lessons. These changes will facilitate online learning, including distance education, making university education more accessible for Aboriginal Canadians and mature students.
“The university community also welcomes the certainty over copyright matters that this legislation provides,” said Mr. Davidson. “We will continue to monitor issues related to the use of copyright materials as this legislation is implemented and the government turns its attention to copyright needs in the future.”
Bill C-11 will also permit university researchers to obtain and keep research materials in digital format. These and other changes to the copyright law will enable educational institutions to take advantage of new information and communications technologies for education and research in a highly competitive knowledge economy.
Canada’s copyright laws were last updated in 1997 when the Internet was still in its infancy and paper copying was the primary method of sharing information.
AUCC is the national voice of Canada’s universities, representing 95 Canadian public and private not-for-profit universities.
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Media Contact:
Helen Murphy
Communications Manager
Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
hmurphy@aucc.ca
613-563-1236 ext. 238
Cell. 613-608-8749